Chemicals

An often neglected area of maintaining the longevity and energy efficiency of your boiler and central heating system is the chemical treatment of the central heating water.

Upon installing a new boiler, the system should be thoroughly flushed with a cleanser - this can be achieved a number of ways, but typically via a PowerFlush, or a post install cleanser for new systems.

However, once you have a nice clean system and a new boiler, the central heating water should be treated with a rust inhibitor chemical - this is of vital importance to keeping the system clean, and prevents the formation of magnetite sludge - see the PowerFlush and Magnetic Filter pages for more information about magnetite sludge.

Provided a system has been cleaned and then treated with rust inhibitor, it is off to a good start. However, this is not a treat and forget solution. Unfortunately, rust inhibitor chemicals will wear out over time, often by dilution - every time you bleed the radiators you are removing chemicals and then having the system topped back up means dilution. If you have small leaks, again, you lose chemicals. If you drain the system in order to move a radiator, install a towel radiator, etc., you are removing those vital chemicals. It is imperative, yet very cheap to re-treat the system with fresh rust inhibitor, which can be dosed into the system in various ways; via the tank in the attic, or a filling loop, or even a radiator bleed valve, dependant on the type of system you have. If you have a magnetic filter installed, then this is often a perfect dosing point for chemicals, so serves a secondary purpose!

If a system has inadvertently been allowed to become dirty over time, then all is not lost - a magnetic filter can be fitted to the system, and treatment chemicals used to lift this dirt for it to be captured in the filter, and then the system finally dosed again with rust inhibitor.

Ultimately - clean with cleansing chemicals (dependant on system and requirements), treat with rust inhibitor, and protect with a magnetic filter.